Methods and devices for operating an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinder banks are already known, each cylinder bank having an air supply with an individual compressor. Each compressor is driven by a turbine in an exhaust branch of the associated cylinder bank. Thus, each cylinder bank of the internal combustion engine is equipped with an individual exhaust turbocharger which includes a compressor in the air supply to the individual cylinder bank and a turbine in the exhaust branch of the respective cylinder bank.
At present, there exists a problem related to control engineering, namely with the coordination of the exhaust turbochargers.